Grayson: The Sidekick Story - The Acrobat
by Nitewing1987
Summary: Story told from Richard Grayson's perspective that explores the first Robin's origin story and combines it with the events based on Batman: Arkham Origins. It's really grounded in reality as I wanted to make this story feel as realistic as possible.
1. The Acrobat

**THE ACROBAT**

The wind in my face, being suspended in the air, that moment when gravity kicks in, I knew them well. The excitement and adrenaline rush that comes with swinging from bar to bar was what I lived for. It was my second year performing with my family in the circus and we were considered the best trapeze acrobat act in the world so I had quite a legacy to upkeep. As the newest addition, I was determined to be the best in the world someday. Potentially being the star of the circus with my own team when I hit my prime. I could just imagine the "Dick Grayson presents…" acts that would leave the crowd in awe even after my parents retired.

Right now though, I was just getting my feet wet and this performance in Gotham was going to have the largest crowd I had ever performed in front of. Although my parents tried to calm me down the best they could, my heart was pumping like crazy and I was nervous as hell. My mom and I climbed the ladder together since we were starting on the right side with my dad on the other. The plan was for dad to start and warm the crowd up, then for him to catch mom and have the two do their normal routine for a bit. Last, I was going to join in often being launched from one parent to the other and doing flips or tricks in midair before I was caught. I wasn't strong enough to catch a full grown adult yet so must of my action occurred in this way.

My dad had already started his piece and didn't miss a beat. Although I worked with him every day I was still in awe of how perfect and precise he was on everything. Sure I was capable of doing some advanced stuff, but not with the absolute consistency that he and mom could demonstrate. My mom told me some last words about being relaxed and doing things just as we practiced. Dad came swinging our way hanging by the back of his knees on the bar with his arms extended, my mom leapt into them and he caught her just when he was still in the air, right before the gravity set in and started heading away from me. Right as they hit the lowest point in the descent, it happened.

Snap! One of the ropes had broken! I doubt my dad would have been able to hang on even if his hands were on the bar, but with the back of his knees instead, he slipped off with no chance at all. I watched them plummet and hit the floor like a meteor causing a loud thud. The whole crowd had a unified loud gasp and the whole world paused for that moment. Although denial and hope usually kick in when someone close is about to die, I knew instantly. Nobody could have survived that. I was never afraid of heights and the danger of what we did never bothered me because we _didn't_ make mistakes. The circus people that checked the equipment _didn't_ mistakes. I climbed the ladder down crying the whole way. I wanted to go faster but after seeing what I just saw, I was extra cautious. Later on in life I would have comrades die, sometimes accidental, sometimes murdered but nothing has ever made me as sick as this did. Nothing even compares. Not just because I was young. Not just because it was my parents. Those things were bad enough. I was sick because I knew the truth about what really just happened and felt I could have prevented it.

A few weeks ago, I just finished training for the routine with my family and stepped outside to get some fresh air. Although I had seen the numerous animals all the time I thought of each as my friend and made a note to check on them. I was 13 and still got very lost in my imagination at that time. I would check out all the acts and imagine myself doing all the cool things the other performers could do. Eventually I would run into Julie the other circus brat on the tour. She was two years younger and had a family that would tame tigers. There wasn't anyone else around our age so we became close and often spent much of our free time together.

On my way to go see her I was passing by Mr. Haley's trailer and overheard him having a heated argument with somebody. I never heard him so upset before. Mr. Haley yelled, "Get out! I run an honest business here, the nerve of you trying to swindle me! If you're not satisfied with the money you make go find a new job! Get the hell out and don't ever show your face again or I'll have you locked up for life you damn hoodlum!"

The employee responded back "Fine! But you're going to regret this! Forget you and your whole damn freak show!" and stormed out of there.

I couldn't take my eyes off the disgruntled employee. He noticed and glared at me and exclaimed "What are you looking at?" as he kept walking.

Mr. Haley didn't appreciate his behavior towards me and gave him some last few words. "Get off my property while you can still walk." Mr. Haley said with a cold calmness as he picked up the whip they use to tame the lions with. I was so accustomed to see him smiling and having such positive energy that it was really strange to see him so serious and upset.

Afterwards Mr. Haley asked that I kept this incident between us. He didn't want the acts to know what had happened and potentially feel alarmed or distracted. He explained it was an administration issue and the acts just need to focus on our upcoming performance in Boston and Gotham. I really wanted to tell Julie about it later that day but honored Mr. Haley's request to keep it a secret. It stayed in the back of my mind for a few days since I had never seen adults fight like that in real life, but after a while I was convinced it was over and didn't worry about it.

About two weeks went by and we were about to perform in front of one of our biggest crowds on tour in Gotham. An hour before our act, I made a trip to the restroom anxious about the upcoming performance. There was a backdoor located in that vicinity and I noticed someone walking in but he went the opposite direction from where most of the people backstage were. I found it a little odd and took a glance up. I was somewhat familiar with all the backstage employees but with this guy's back turned and at a distance, I wasn't sure who it was. The walk looked familiar and I tried to recall where I knew that walk from. I was back in the room backstage with everybody else when it hit me that it might have been the disgruntled employee from a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure if I was just being paranoid or if it really was him but I didn't want to say anything because Mr. Haley had assured me that it wasn't my concern and I shouldn't do anything that could divert the focus of the performers. If Mr. Haley himself was around I would have talked to him but instead I just dropped it and convinced myself it was probably nothing.

On my way down the ladder to see my parents' bodies, I felt so sick. I looked at the lifeless bodies with absolute shock that this really just happened and to us of all people. Different people from the circus were hugging me and trying to comfort me but the whole scene was a slow motion blur. I couldn't imagine life without them. It was reality now but it didn't seem real. Everyone kept referring to it as an accident, Mr. Haley included. When the cops got there I spoke up and told everybody that this was not an accident. Of course, everyone thought I was in denial and just being an irrational kid but I kept insisting. I told Mr. Haley that I saw the disgruntled employee backstage and Mr. Haley's eyes got big. He said, "Tony, tried to steal money from me but he wouldn't go as far as sabotaging an act." Despite saying this I could tell Mr. Haley gave what I said considerable thought. Maybe this was just a random accident but maybe I really did see this Tony guy backstage and he managed to cut or weaken the rope. It was worth looking into and he told the cops to suspect each possibility. Afterwards everyone in the circus gathered in a room and Mr. Haley gave a long talk about the tragedy and shared some of his favorite stories about my parents. He also assured that whether it was negligence or a sabotage that either way we will get to the bottom of what happened tonight. The room was so solemn and completely quiet when we heard a knock on the door. A policeman introduced himself as Commissioner Gordon and informed us after their initial investigation it appeared that the rope had been tampered with and this was officially a murder case. They wanted to bring multiple people in for questioning to piece together all the facts and determine my custody.

Gotham was such an old town, it looked more like Europe to me than the United States. It had its nice areas but also had a whole lot of bums and litter in others. At the Burnley precinct I answered tons of questions for hours. After a while I felt like I was just re-answering the same questions and they were searching for information I just didn't have or didn't exist. I was to stay under police custody until the case was solved and then expected to spend my teenage years in the orphanage since I didn't have any family that had the means to take me in. They asked if I wanted to go somewhere else but I knew I wanted to stay in Gotham. I didn't really have a home and to me, this place was as good as any and I didn't see any reason to leave. Commissioner Gordon had one last sit down with me where he asked if I would be interested in living with Bruce Wayne. Supposedly Bruce Wayne was in attendance and saw what happened, he came to precinct to offer to pay for all the funeral services and then found out that I was going into the orphanage. He offered to take custody over me until I was 18 since he had been through a similar tragedy and really felt for me. The commissioner explained that Bruce's mansion is one of the safest places in Gotham and he was extremely rich and only lived with his butler. I asked him a little bit more and decided that I would much rather live as a little brother to some millionaire then stuck in some lame orphanage.

We signed the papers and allowed him to become my guardian. I never completely viewed him as a father figure because I was 13 and he was 28. It was like inheriting an older brother that I knew nothing about. I thought it was strange for a 28 year old to want to essentially adopt a teenager but figured he genuinely had a soft spot for me and my situation. Personally, I hated the idea of changing my last name from Grayson to Wayne, they tried to convince me that until Tony Zucco was caught, and it was safer for me in case he tried to track me down but I refused. I wanted to be a detective so I could go catch him myself and beat him senseless. Before this point I could only see myself in the circus, but now for the first time in my life I strongly considered that maybe I wanted to be a policeman and bring down the murderers in this world.

As I walked out the precinct with Bruce, his butler picked us up in this brand new metallic blue Bentley. It was a long drive to Bruce's mansion and I wasn't in the mood to talk much. I just took in the sights of this strange gothic looking city as I thought about the recent events. Bruce asked me a bunch of questions but I only provided short answers. I didn't mind him talking to me but my mind was just so distracted I couldn't respond with full answers.

We pulled up well after midnight into this three story mansion. After Alfred showed me to my room, I showered and tried to go to bed but I couldn't. I stayed up the whole night disturbed about the recent events and thought about what my parents were thinking, the whereabouts of Tony Zucco, the circus performers, and my new adopted family.

After the first few days I noticed that Bruce had a peculiar schedule that didn't quite fit with my image of a business man. He slept late and didn't go in to work until about 1:00 PM and came back around 4:00 PM. He would talk to me a little bit after he got home but soon he would disappear and I wouldn't see him again for the rest of the night. Sometimes he would go out but usually he would just be in his study. During the week, the only time I did see him was once I got out of school. I expected him to be busy but I couldn't believe how much time I had to spend by myself or just with Alfred. From what Alfred told me, Bruce does most of his work from home and at night and really just goes into Wayne Enterprises for meetings. It was believable but still felt strange to me.

I got along fine in school. Alfred was concerned that since I had been home schooled my whole life that I would struggle making friends but I never really had a problem with that. Bruce sent me to a private school and although it had its fair share of stuck up and snobby kids, most that I met were friendly people. I didn't want to talk about my real past so I had to make up a story to cover the truth. I didn't want to make up anything too difficult to remember so I kept the story similar to the real one to make it easier on myself. My story is that my parents died in a car accident and Bruce was a family friend that offered to take me in. Also, since Gotham had a prominent gymnastics program I wanted to come here anyway because I thought I had a real shot of making it into the Olympics. Therefore anytime it was brought up, I could talk about it without thinking too much about consistency and details. I think many of the students would have been welcoming anyway but since I had been through tragedy, many of them really made an extra effort on trying to include me in or invite to parties and stuff. I really appreciated it, and it helped me get through the school day but when I came back home to that huge empty mansion, all those thoughts set in that kept me up all night. I could mask it to those around me well, but I knew I had a built up rage and depression that was eating me.

For an outlet I joined a local gymnastics club to refine my acrobatic skills beyond the trapeze maneuvers. Initially, I just wanted to continue doing more acrobatic gymnastics but joining the club introduced me to the world of artistic gymnastics. Events such as the floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar really challenged me due to the muscle endurance required. I adapted to the high bar the easiest since the leaping and catching required was much more similar to what I did with the circus, but even that required me to really learn from scratch with all that went into it. The uneven bars was more idealistic for me but it's traditionally a female competition so I couldn't compete in it officially. However, I loved showing up the girls there with my skills on it or just playing on them for my own amusement.

I was the first one there and wished I could have stayed there all night. That gym was more of home to me than the mansion. I certainly would have lived there if I could. I maintained a calm and nice demeanor but inside I was always full of an angry energy. I put it into each workout and each feat and internally exploded when I fell or made any type of mistake. The coach commented that I was the most focused student he had ever seen and had no doubt I could be a collegiate gymnast. I was fueled by negative energy and knew it was going to come out in some way. Gymnastics provided that much needed escape to pour my soul into. At the same time, to call it an escape may not be accurate though considering that it was my way of making my deceased parents proud in my head. It was my way of honoring their memory and continuing the legacy of the Flying Grayson's.

Bruce and Alfred encouraged my love for the gym and came to no surprise for me. Bruce was a workout nut himself and was always doing CrossFit training. I had no idea how fit he was at first but after seeing him in tank tops or shirtless, my jaw dropped because he was incredibly ripped. I grew up in the circus where much doesn't shock me but I would have never guessed that this billionaire businessman looked like a pro wrestler under his suits.

Although months had gone by and I was adapting to my new life well, I was still troubled by my parents' death and the fact that Tony Zucco was never caught only made it worse. The murderer of my parents was still out there somewhere and what was I doing about it? Nothing. What can I do about it though? Sure I want to walk through all of Gotham looking for him but he probably wasn't even in Gotham anymore. Not to mention, Gotham has the most notorious criminals in the world and the vigilante Batman running around. This is one city where wandering around some areas is suicide. My school was in the rich side of town and Bruce's mansion was away from everything so I never had to worry about these issues for my own safety but I would venture out in a heartbeat if I could find that damn Tony Zucco. I still felt depressed and helpless as I turned off the television and stared through the table from my couch.

Bruce caught me crying in the living room. He apologized for not being around but I told him that it didn't bother me too much.

I said "If only I said something. I knew it was him. I knew he didn't belong back there." I cried. "I could have stopped him!"

"I know, you keep thinking, if only I had done something differently. If only I could have warned them. This isn't your fault. This isn't our fault. I wish I could tell you that the pain goes away, but it doesn't. You just have to do your best to live with it," Bruce responded.

Afterwards he told me the story about when he was 8 and was walking through an alley with his parents after watching a Grey Ghost movie. The man caught them in the alley and was looking to rob them. The robber ended up shooting both his parents and escaping without ever being identified. In the end he assured me that I will be able to manage the devastation better but it will take time.

A few months went by and I continued to progress well in the gym. I still didn't have the upper body strength to be as good as I wanted but I managed to qualify in the high bar for a regional youth competition. The coach kept reminding me that there was no pressure and to be confident. In one sense, this was nothing compared to the large audiences I have performed in front of which included more dangerous feats. At the same time though, this was a competition and did have a different feel to it than simply performing for pure entertainment. Bruce was always busy and missed some of our local shows but he was here for this competition and I was happy that he would finally get to see what I had been into these last few months. I maintained my focus but applied more of a positive energy in my performance. I felt the rush of being in the circus again and suppressed my usual angry feelings I develop when I practice. I made a few minor mistakes but overall I was in my own league in that event. My style stood out because it consisted of a lot of tough aerial maneuvers and less on the more technical skills or balancing feats. I was certainly the crowd favorite but that was to be expected as the aerial maneuvers impress people more than some of the more technical subtle feats performed in gymnastics. The judges knocked me on some of the technical points but I won the competition for my event. My club celebrated with me and I truly felt like they were more excited than I was. I enjoyed it but my goals and dreams were set way bigger than just winning something regional.

Talking to Bruce on the drive back I could see that he was genuinely impressed. He asked me all sorts of questions about the workouts we do and how we learn how to do certain skills. He even wanted me to take him to the gym and teach him some things. The thought sounded funny to me. I couldn't understand why a grown man would all of a sudden want to participate in gymnastics or really learn those skills of balance and dynamics but I figured he was a fitness guy and desired to take his body to its limits. Then Bruce asked a question that ruined my mood in an instant.

"So how bad do you want Tony Zucco?" he asked.

My demeanor immediately shifted and my tone got lower as I was trying to sound tough now, "Real bad" I responded.

"You realize that even if you catch him, you still won't get your parents back. It still won't make that pain go away," he continued.

"I know," I said.

Bruce paused for a moment. I figured he was waiting for me to expand on what I said but there was really nothing else for me to say. Then he tried to cut to the chase.

"I know you have a burning desire to bring Zucco to justice, but let's take a step back from that for a moment. How far would you go to stop a murderer like Zucco even if the victim was a stranger" he asked.

"I don't know," I replied.

He switched the topic but the mood was already ruined. At the time I just really wasn't sure what he was asking me. A few hours later when we got back to his mansion he decided to really get to the point.

"Follow me," he stated without turning to look at me and walking up to the old grandfather clock. He opened it, pulled a handle down and the whole clock moved to the right along the wall. Interesting, he had a secret passage I never knew of. I couldn't imagine what he kept in this secret room and why he was sharing it with me. My mind was racing but mainly I was thinking that it might have been old stuff that his parents had that he kept for safekeeping or just a safe room in case of a natural disaster or something like that. There was a long stair well that went underground and looped around the cave wall. The path had sensory lighting so we could always see about 20 steps in front of us but it was hard to see how far the stairs went. It looked like something from a scary movie but at this point I really trusted Bruce and wasn't too frightened. Out the corner of my eye I saw something flying through the air and making loud screeching sounds. I looked over and there was a bunch of them flying up.

"Relax, they are just bats," Bruce calmly assured me.

When we got to the bottom I saw how extensive this cave basement really was. He had a huge computer, a car, all sorts of equipment, a bookcase, random memorabilia, and I had no idea what to make out of it.

Bruce began his monologue, "After my parents' murder I became a reclusive loner and never really figured out how to deal with it until a few years ago. I finally stopped just thinking about my tragedy and started focusing on the unfortunate events in other good people's lives that were bestowed onto them by criminal activity. I became vengeance. Not for myself, but for all those that couldn't fight back."

He turned around and looked me right in the eye and stated in a serious tone, "I'm Batman." My eyes grew; things were really starting to hit me now. This was the infamous vigilante that was putting criminals away but also causing all sorts of ruckus in Gotham. I was in disbelief at first but quickly came to terms with it as he continued.

"This is my third year as Batman but I have been less successful with stopping crime. I keep trying to up my game but I'm only one person. The first two years I surprised criminals and instilled a fear in them that allowed me to be a dominant force. Although, I have no problem with the small time crooks, the big players in the criminal underworld are prepared for me now. They keep more lookouts, have better communication, they have contingency plans in case I show up while they are doing a job. If I just had a little bit of help I think I can really turn Gotham around. I don't want to put you in danger or ask you to do anything you are uncomfortable with. I'm simply offering you the chance to make the type of difference that you want to make. I don't want you to turn into me. I decided to adopt you in hopes that you wouldn't turn into me. I know you can keep a secret and think you would be the ideal behind-the-scenes apprentice to make my job easier. You don't have to make your decision now but let me know if you are ready to enter into my world."

I thought about everything he said for a minute. It had been about six months since my parents' death and I wondered how they would feel about me helping out batman. I didn't have to think too hard though. I looked at Bruce and thought about all the people that were going through something similar as me.

"I'm in" I said with a determined tone to match Bruce's.

Afterwards Bruce laid out the rules that I would learn to live by.

"You work with me Dick, you follow the rules. Rule number 1: you give me everything you got. Rule #2: then you give me more. And rule #3, I make the rules."

"Understood," I retorted without really understanding what I was getting into.

At the time Black Mask had risen to be the most powerful boss of the criminal underworld and to keep Batman off his back, he put a million dollar bounty on him which attracted some of the world's greatest assassins. Bruce was in more trouble than he wanted to admit.


	2. First Blood

**FIRST BLOOD**

My initial role as Batman's helper was far from glamorous. I spent nights going through newspapers and watching the news to record and organize all the crimes going on in Gotham. I would put the relevant notes in his computer and give him the updates on the different cases when he came in. I would try to make my guesses on which crimes were related but didn't add much input outside the facts initially. With each case Bruce would school me on the details of how he envisioned something played out. Ranging from whether it was spur of the moment or an advance plan, the crooks dominant hand, how they could have snuck up on the target or escaped, listening to Bruce's deductive reasoning on a daily basis really started to shape the way I thought and enhanced my attention to details.

In my second week of my Batman support work, I came across an unusual case of a criminal dying from a copperhead bite. Batman was out patrolling Gotham and I called him on our radio to tell him.

He responded, ''you're right, you won't come across a copperhead in the city so there is a chance that someone is using snakes to kill. It may be one of Black Mask's assassins. Make a trip to the library and see what you can find out about counteracting copperhead venom."

I took my notes the next day and developed a plan and kit on how to treat a copperhead bite with Alfred's help. With me taking on much of the busy work it allowed Bruce more time to patrol the streets or follow up leads.

It was a good thing that I was ready because Copperhead was the first assassin that almost succeeded. We assumed someone was using actual snakes but from what Batman described it was actually a woman in a costume that wore fangs on her hand that were shaped just like the snake and emitted the same venom but in higher doses. She was able to sneak behind Batman while he was investigating a Black Mask lead. He was stabbed in the calf which limited his ability to move but was able to fend her off and grapple away. He zip lined down to the Batmobile from on top of the building and was able to escape and head back to the cave.

On his drive back he explained what happened and Alfred and I helped him from the car into the batcave. I took the lead in applying the anti-venom and then Alfred helped stitch him up. The cut was deep and the tissue had been noticeably damaged but Bruce would be able to recover within a few days. During that time we talked about what happened and it was bugging Bruce that he couldn't think of where she came from. I volunteered to take a look at the scene.

"I'll go over to the area in the morning before school and tell you what I see in case you missed anything," I proposed.

Bruce answered, "No, it's too dangerous in that part of town even in the morning hours. I don't want you to be out in the field."

"I'll take the motorcycle and leave if there is anyone in the area. There is no bounty on me. I'm not a target, just a random kid. No one would expect anything even if I was close to a black mask hangout spot" I pleaded.

Bruce responded, "I don't like it. Alfred. Go with him."

"If I do have to make a getaway, Alfred would just slow me down. No offense," I pointed out.

Alfred chimed in "Master Grayson does have a point sir."

Bruce gave in and agreed "Alright you win, but stay on the radio with me the whole time."

When I got to the place Bruce orally traced his footsteps to the point of where he got attacked. The Batmobile was parked in an alley about two blocks away and Batman traveled through rooftop grappling before he dropped in on the alley. Copperhead could have been on the ground, inside a building, or a rooftop when she spotted him. We weren't going to solve that mystery today but we did need to figure how she snuck up on him. Batman watches his back often so she would have had to move really fast and quiet if coming from around the corner of the building into the alley. It didn't seem likely, but neither did coming from a roof. From either starting point, there is no way someone could move that quiet and that fast. You have to sacrifice one for the other.

I told Bruce my discoveries, "The markings on the wall here suggest that she was climbing down from the building in the area where you were attacked. On the other side of the building there are markings suggesting that she was climbing up."

"I was on that roof and didn't see anything. My hunch is that she saw me coming and climbed down before I got there. I don't see how she could have come from above without me noticing. Is there hiding spot in the alley that you see?" Batman asked.

I stated "Well I guess she could have beat you down here and been hiding in this hole in the wall and waited for you to come by... but she would have to be tiny."

"Try fitting into it," Batman replied.

I answered, "I can get most of my body in but still will have a lot sticking out. Plus it's way too uncomfortable to wait in here even if she could."

"When I fought her off it was odd. She didn't seem like the greatest technical fighter but was certainly unusually flexible. We may be dealing with a contortionist. Someone like that could have patiently waited for me in a tight spot before making a move. I'll start a file on her and see what we can dig up," Batman concluded.

I replied, "Okay good. Some people are coming around too so I'm bailing out of here."

"With people like that around maybe it would be good if I had another pair of eyes to watch my back. But if I put you in field with me, even if you're just a lookout, I'm going to have to make sure you can handle yourself." Bruce indicated.

I said, "That's fine with me. Where do we start?"


	3. On Wings

**ON WINGS**

The wind in my face, being suspended in the air, that moment when gravity kicks in, I knew them even better. Bruce did his brainstorming on preparing me to be his sidekick and broke it down into specific abilities that finished with a final test when I was ready. These abilities included physical fitness, free running, stealth, martial arts, critical thinking, hacking, and gadget mastery. He spent seven years training in an Asian temple to become the force he is and was planning to turn me into a dependable sidekick in one year. The whole concept of it was very intimidating but he had strong belief that I was capable. Bruce was a very tough teacher but I knew to expect as much from someone that was trained as extensively as him. Outside of the training in his normal "Bruce" persona he was very supportive, positive, and proud of my progress, but during it I could see the dark batman persona come out. I knew he wanted the best out of me but he was certainly brutal when it came to giving me an earful or physically pushing me when I made a mistake. I often wanted to fight him for real but kept my emotions in check. During my first year under his guidance I built up a heavy resentment towards him and often thought of him as a villain in a sense. I know he was just preparing me for the ills of the Gotham rogues but I often thought it wasn't necessary. I always tried my hardest and tried to improve and listened to his advice regardless of how it was delivered. I started to see that Batman wasn't just his mask. It truly was a separate personality. Sometimes I thought he was just being fake with everybody when he was acting as Bruce Wayne but maybe it was the other way around. Maybe being Bruce was more natural for him than being Batman but I really couldn't tell when I started seeing both sides. I liked Bruce but often dreaded Batman.

The only ability Bruce let me handle on my own was my physical training. He felt that I was already on path of maximizing my athletic talents and figured he could leave that to my gymnastics trainers for now. I certainly wasn't going to have Bruce's height but was a much better natural athlete. He put down a list of physical feats he wanted me to obtain by the end of the year. They weren't easy but I knew I could reach most. Ultimately it wasn't his biggest concern because he knew at 14 I still had plenty of growing to do and was much further along than he was at that age.

My first few experiences in the field were just lookout duty. I would watch Batman follow up Black Mask leads and interrogate his henchmen. The further along my training went the closer he allowed me to watch from. Usually he didn't need it but if there were plenty of henchmen I would talk to him on the radio regarding henchmen locations and/or if he was in any immediate danger. Working with Bruce individually certainly helped me become physically prepared but most of my learning actually came from just watching him. He showed such great patience and could strike so fast and vanish in the shadows before anyone could react. He would interrogate the last person but struggled to get far. None of the henchmen knew substantial information regarding the whereabouts of their boss. All Batman could do was get them to drop a few names of a few associates but wasn't climbing Black Mask's ladder the way he wanted to. The organization was too big and the longer it took, the more time Batman had to spend fighting off the assassins.

"I figured we could take a break from the usual training and do something different this weekend. I've planned for a weekend trip to go hang gliding. It should be fun," Bruce said.

Although he was trying to make light of it, it was no secret that this weekend was going to be more training but at least I was getting to spend time with Bruce instead of Batman and would be learning from people that's whole life was hang gliding. I was pretty excited since I had never done it before and appreciated the fact that he hadn't given me a talk about how important it was and how I need to learn every detail about hang gliding. He was starting to notice that although my personality was more lighthearted, I really was pushing myself to be a great ally.

On the way, Bruce had me read a hang gliding training manual and stated that when we get back he had hang gliding physics homework problems prepared for me. Although it felt like school, I didn't mind at all. It came with the gig and I'd rather be over prepared than under prepared. After arriving the instructors had us watch a video and went over other safety precautions and tips. It was clear Bruce had been there plenty of times before because the instructors seem to know him well and the whole time they were speaking directly to me regarding the instructions. My first run was a bit shaky but I made it through. I was wobbling all over the place and struggling to steer and was too focused and scared of messing up to enjoy the experience. A safety parachute was in our backpacks if anything went wrong or we were going too fast to have a safe landing. After a few runs I started really having a blast and the instructors were very enthusiastic about helping me out. I was the only person there really learning it for the first time and they started giving me challenges of making harder left and right turns and also diving down and rising back up. After the two days, I said bye to the instructors and assured them that I would be back sometime.

"You're a natural kid, I have never seen somebody your age maneuver in the air so well," said the first instructor.

Bruce chimed in, "He's a gymnast and it really shows with his body control while hang gliding."

The second instructor added, "No wonder, when Bruce started he was all over the place like a mosquito." The four of us had a little chuckle. He continued, "But you were smooth though, you look like a bird out there."

On the way back Bruce and I had the liveliest conversation we ever had. I was on such a high and became a kid again instead of feeling like his employee. As Alfred drove us back Bruce pushed aside the books as we talked about the weekend. We got home late and I remember feeling in that moment that I was truly on my way to being his sidekick. I got a sense of that from other training but for some reason the hang gliding made me really feel like I was ready for some adventures and part of his team. We had mentioned that I come up with an alias for when I was working with him to be secure of our secret identities but hadn't brought it up for a few weeks. Before going to bed I caught Bruce right before he went down to the cave.

"Bruce."

"What?"

"It's not intimidating or has any good connection to bats, but I want my name to be Robin. It fits me."

He paused for a moment to think about it. Then he smiled. "Okay Robin. Tomorrow let's get together and start designing your outfit." I went to sleep thinking about how cool it would be to hang glide all over Gotham.

A week later I would wake up to my personal bat alarm at about 1:00 AM and listen to Bruce's alert voicemail that said, "Robin, I need you to take the motorcycle to the Otisburg District, find Stagg enterprises HQ. It's the tallest building there. Bring the hang glide equipment and grapple to the roof. Afterwards hang glide to Kane Chemicals and bring Stealth Bag B, there's already cops at the scene so you should find it easily. This is a covert mission. If you are seen by the thugs, get out of there immediately and disappear into the shadows. You will be using goodies in the backpack to provide distraction from the roof as I take out Red Hood and his thugs. Call me back when you are on your way."

What the hell have I gotten myself into? I thought as I started running to the Batcave.


	4. Original Red Hood

**ORIGINAL RED HOOD**

The wind in my face, being suspended in the air, the moment when gravity kicks in, I controlled them well on my hang glider on my way from the Stagg building to Kane Chemicals. Batman was still explaining the situation and going over some details of my responsibilities. In summary, Red Hood decided to hold the 3rd shift of this chemical plant hostage. Typically 3rd shifts have the worst security and least people so it made sense for him to attack the building then. He was one of the assassins Black Mask hired to kill Batman and was just using this hostage situation to lure Batman out.

Batman had heard of the mysterious Red Hood before. He informed me that in a past case there was a man named Carl Beaument that was in debt to the Valestra gang. The main hitman of the gang was known as the Red Hood and after Carl tried to flee to Europe he found him and killed him overseas. Batman wasn't sure if the Valestra gang broke up or if the Red Hood just rose to being the new boss but certainly their hitman Red Hood was working as the leader of his own squad these days. The only info he had was that the guy often dressed in a stylish suit and blended in well in his civilian persona. Often once he infiltrated his target, his goons would storm in taking over with ruthless aggression and he would slip on a red helmet that covered his whole head and would attach a cape. All of his men had automatic guns and would shoot first and ask questions later.

I was a bit rusty since it had been a while since the last time I hang glided but my muscle memory kicked back in and it became a matter of judgment now. Am I coming in too high? Too low? Too straight maybe? I concluded that I was too high and needed to start diving down. However I didn't want to smack the roof or side of the building so I figured I would have to dive down a bit early and then pull back up hard enough to where I can glide onto the roof horizontally or even angled up some. I dove pretty hard and by the time I got my hang glider to pull back up I was well below the roof and looking like I could smack into the side of the wall. I pulled up harder and saw that I was going to clear the roof edge but now the hang glider was moving back up too fast. The longer I held on, the further my drop to the ground would be so I let go and rolled my way into a safe landing. When I stopped myself from rolling anymore, I was in a pushup position and looked up to see the wind starting to carry the hang glider further across the building and in the air. Knowing that if I got spotted by the goons that hang glider would definitely come in handy, I quickly reached for my grapple gun and shot it at the metal bar. I connected with it, turned on the "pull" switch on the grapple gun, and was able to pull it back in to me. If it had got any further away I may have missed the shot and felt pretty lucky at the moment. I called Batman back so he could further brief me on what to do. We were able to communicate through his head sets although he would lose reception when climbing through vents or in certain parts of the building. I wasn't sure if he entered the building from the roof or found some other way in.

Now speaking in his tough Batman voice I heard, "When I say now, do it and get the hell away."

"Got it," I said trying to match his tone.

"Now!" Batman whispered as he was certainly close to the enemies and trying to stay quiet.

There was a small metal escrima stick that had a detachable piece that turned it into a small sledge hammer in my backpack. I reared back and completely smashed a window on the outer side wall right below the roof and moved out of sight back on top of the roof. I knew there was no way a bullet could get to me but I took even further cover to make sure that even if they threw a grenade I would be out of reach. They shot through a bunch of the windows looking for me and once all their eyes were looking up, Batman threw a smoke bomb and took some guys out before they knew what hit them. He disappeared in the building and they started searching looking around for him again. Now that they were no longer focused on me I threw a batarang and nailed a guy right in the neck. I was aimin for his head but was just happy I hit him at least.

The henchman started to get freaked out. The first said, "How the hell is he doing that? There's no way he can be so many places at once or move that fast!"

The second one responded, "He ain't human! Next time he pop up, we gotta light him up Malcolm X style fa real!"

I ran to the opposite side of the building on the roof and found a window that they already shot through and launched a smoke bomb right in the center which allowed Batman to go back to work. I wish I could have really seen him in action but there was way too much smoke. He was using his mask and thermal vision to identify the assailants and take them out.

Now there was just Red Hood left. I told Batman on our radio that I was going to disarm him with a batarang. The once, so intimidating and dangerous hitman now looked goofy and scared to death as he was just looking every direction and shooting his gun all over the place. If we would have waited long enough he probably would have ran out of bullets but I was getting hyped up about how well our first outing was going. I felt the difference. I was adding a mysticism and supernatural element to the Batman legend. Before my eyes, he was transforming into some crazy vigilante into a demon that could appear and reappear anywhere at any time.

I thought to myself, "I hope the villains never find out that there are actually two of us. These are cruel magic tricks. The way we misdirect and dominate them is such a rewarding feeling."

I found a good angle and whipped in a batarang to disarm the Red Hood and Batman ran in and kicked the gun off the ledge. The Red Hood ran away and backed into the catwalk. He reached for a smaller gun but Batman grabbed his arm. Although he wasn't aiming at Batman, Red Hood pulled the trigger a few times and eventually hit some flammable chemical. After Batman smashed his arm against the rail, Red Hood dropped the gun and in a quick effort to grab it Red Hood fell over the rail and into an open top tank with some orange chemical in it. There was a ladder attached to the inside wall of the tank and the Red Hood started attempting to climb out but was struggling. The building was on fire and Batman yelled at me to get out of there. I grabbed the hang glider, sprinted as fast as I could and just let the hang glider take me towards a neighboring building. Batman ran to a backroom where the hostages were located and busted through the window since the door was locked. Afterwards the fire department salvaged as much as they could from the building and rescued all the hostages in a back room and henchmen that were unconscious. However the Red Hood was missing. His helmet was found in the tank after it was drained the next day but his body or any remnants of it was nowhere to be found. It seems he was able to make an escape after all. He gave up on his bounty attempt and we never saw that version of the Red Hood again. I don't say this often about our villains but I really wish the original Red Hood died that night. I at least wish we caught him. Later he would come back in a big way. No mask, but physically and mentally changed and even more corrupt under his new moniker, the Joker.


	5. Cat got my Tongue

**CAT GOT MY TONGUE**

The first file I read was of Black Mask. He was unlike any criminal Batman had faced and posed a much bigger threat than any he had dealt with. Today Batman's reputation surpasses all but at this time in his career he had exposed crooked cops and a few mob bosses but never faced a true villain that was ready to take the fight directly to him. The details of how Black Mask gained his power were unclear but somehow he managed to become a top dog in the criminal underworld by acquiring different factions with minimum violence. Every crime lord before Black Mask had a rise to power that involved plenty of shootouts and dead bodies. Somehow Black Mask formed a unified cooperative criminal world with business in various areas. He was involved in the drug trade, arms trafficking, sex slave trafficking, clubs, bars, hit men, body guards, and other ventures. Black Mask didn't run all these endeavors closely but he served as a coordinator that provided resources to the different projects. The different organizations paid up to him to stay as part of his network and since they weren't in competing businesses, this extended partnership benefited everybody and became a headache for the cops and Batman. Keep in mind this was before using the internet was common, and Black Mask's international criminal network was incredibly efficient, organized, and profitable for its time. He craved power even more than money. Looking to control as much of Gotham as possible and be able to live life doing whatever he wanted with no interruptions. He wore a mask as his name suggests and kept his real name unknown indicating that he wanted to maintain an innocent civilian identity. Therefore, anytime he feels he needs to lay low he simply doesn't don the mask or meet with his colleagues in person.

Despite forming a dominant network, Black Mask still had his rivals and groups that refused to conform and join his network. Interestingly, he didn't look to kill competition directly, he strived to just put them out of business but if they directly interfered with his operations, he wiped them out with ruthless aggression. After a few of those incidences everybody was scared to cross Black Mask and either joined his network or stayed out of his way. The only exception to this rule was Batman. Black Mask hired a hitman to take out Batman but he failed and is locked up in prison now. Afterwards Black Mask hired 8 assassins and put a million dollar bounty for the one who can kill Batman. The assassins were Red Hood, Bane, Deadshot, Copperhead, Firefly, Electrocutioner, Sportsmaster, and Deathstroke.

Usually I just watched his back but one night Batman put trackers on two different targets. Unable to follow each at the same time, we had to split up, and he gave me strict orders to just observe and not engage by any means. I arrived at the docks and quickly confirmed that it was another Black Mask venture and initially assumed they were smuggling firearms or drugs. I moved in a little closer to see if I could get a definite answer to what was going on and suddenly there was a figure in the corner of my eye. Thinking I was spotted by a Black Mask goon I evacuated the area immediately and the goon gave chase.

Just when I thought I lost the follower I heard a woman's voice call out "Hey kid, I'm not going to hurt you." I made the chase more difficult utilizing my parkour and gadgets but she stayed on my tail and caught up to me.

"It's okay! I'm here to help" she pleaded with me. Realizing I could not out-maneuver her I decided I would have to face her and fight if necessary.

I turned and grabbed my radio to call Batman and ordered her "Stay back!"

As I finally got a good look at her I immediately recognized the cat outfit and knew who I was dealing with. Batman ordered me to stay away from Catwoman and how devious and deceptive she could be. At the same time she had helped him before and his relationship was so complicated with her that he couldn't give proper advice because he hadn't figured it out yet.

She put her hands up and sweetened her tone of voice to seem as innocent as possible towards me. "I told you, I'm not here to hurt you. You're Batman's trainee aren't you? I just want to talk." Catwoman took one more step towards me thinking she had gained my trust.

Trying to sound tough and playing hardball I responded quickly, "I told you not to take one more step, that's it I'm calling Batman."

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, just here me out before you do that," she continued. "Did you know about Joyce Simmons?"

"Yes, that's the girl from the East End that's been missing for a few days," I replied.

"I believe that she is being held at the docks you were just investigating, I assumed that was the reason you were there," Catwoman stated.

I responded, "No, I was just tracking a Black Mask thug and it led me here. Why would they kidnap a teenager like Joyce? Does she have a father or brother that is a Black Mask enemy? Black Mask certainly isn't the ransom type."

Catwoman answered with a heavy heart, "You've seen her, she's a really cute girl. That operation down there is sex trafficking, they are going to transport her tonight and I am not going to let that happen. I just want you to help me to provide a little insurance since you are already here. If you call Batman he may tell you to wait for him since he doesn't trust me and that's time we may not be able to afford."

Then her tone switched to her more persuasive and seductive style. "C'mon lil hero, think of it as our first date and if it goes well I'll let you pick the time and place for the next one. You're a lil young for me now but you are becoming a brave, strong, handsome young man."

I knew she was just teasing me but even though I was smart enough to recognize it, my hormones still got to me in that moment. Seeing a bad ass, tough, sexy woman in her prime in a tight latex suit talk to me that way is defenseless to any 14-year old boy. I tried to play it off like it didn't faze me though.

"I'll do it for Joyce," I responded in a reluctant tone.

We headed back to the docks and Catwoman laid out her simple plan, "I'm gonna do my thing, during the chaos, all I need you to do is go to the 3rd trailor and get it open. That's where I believe they store the women." Have them follow you down the north trail until you get to Maple Street and then take them to the East End police station.

We both moved in, Catwoman taking out the goons and me moving towards the trailers. I slipped to the door of the trailer and unlocked it. There was one woman in and she couldn't speak English so I tried to convince her to come with me and be quiet primarily talking with my hands. If I was batman she might have screamed her head off but I earned her trust quickly. She wasn't who I was looking for but I was trying to at least save one life. I started moving with her towards the path but she tugged on me and pointed at a different trailer not along that path. I went with her part of the way and then had her hide in a spot while I approached the other trailer.

There were two guards each with guns and I had never taken down people before without Batman's direction but one thing I learned fast in the hero game is that you are never truly ready to do something until the situation calls for it. I still had my 10 batarangs and 3 smoke pellets so I could be a little excessive on these two guards. I threw a smoke pellet and batarang at each one and made a circular run towards them to avoid random gun fire in case my batarang didn't hit the mark. In the smoke I was able to take down both without too much trouble but had a hard time finding the door and picking the lock. Finally I got it open and this time there were about 4 girls and I recognized one of them as Joyce.

"Joyce, let's go, I'm getting you guys out of here," I said.

"Oh thank god!" she returned. I made sure we scooped up the first girl I found and started making our way out the area. One of the other girls called out to me "Hey, new hero guy, I think Catwoman needs your help."

I turned around and saw Catwoman fighting Copperhead. "Awww damnit! Where the hell did she come from?" I said to myself out loud.

"Do any of you know where the East End police station is?" I asked.

One replied, "Well, I do but I'm not sure where we are located right now and how to get there from here"

I explained the directions and asked, "Can you lead these girls back there for me?"

"Yes," she said confidently and added, "Thank you so much, before we part what's your name?"

"Robin" I responded trying to hide my smile.

I ran back and watched the Catwoman and Copperhead fight. I was in awe of their fighting styles, so vastly different from Batman's or the street thugs I had come across. The aerial assault and dodging ability was captivating. A few henchmen started getting back up and took care of them. The police showed up and Copperhead and Catwoman ran opposite directions. I followed Catwoman and talked to her about the encounter.

"Do you know why she attacked you?"

"Many of Batman's enemies are my enemies too. I'm not surprised she found a reason. Are the girls safe?"

"Yes, they were on their way to the police station and the police are surrounding the area now so I'm confident they are in good hands."

"You came back for me. Why? That wasn't part of the plan."

"I really wanted to make sure you stayed alive so I can have that date you promised."

"Oh really?" she responded and smiled.

"I saw some of your fighting moves can you teach me how to do some?" I asked.

Catwoman gave me a really puzzled look. "What? Batman doesn't teach you how to fight?"

"Oh he teaches me, but he teaches me to fight like him. Some of the moves in your repertoire is more akin to my style. There's a few I noticed that I want you to go over with me."

Catwoman continued to give me a strange look. "Interesting, most men don't have the flexibility and grace for that. What makes you think you are even capable of fighting like me?"

"I don't think. I know," I answered.

"Excuse me."

"I'm his sidekick but I'm not a carbon copy of him. If you could just point me in the right direction, I really think I could become a much better fighter."

"Okay kid, we'll see what you got and if you are cut out for it I'll share some of my training methods. I guess I owe you that much. Although, teaching you my tricks can come back to haunt me someday."

We arranged a meeting spot the next day. Then Batman contacted me on the radio.

"Robin, did you find anything?" Batman asked.

"Yes, I'll tell you all about it more when I get to the batcave. In short, the operation was for sex trafficking and I witnessed Catwoman take them down and save the missing Joyce girl".

"I see. Did you have to engage at any point?"

"No." Catwoman smiled witnessing me lying to my boss. I quickly remembered that I had told the girls my name and that they would probably mention me to the police. I corrected my statement quickly. "Well, I didn't engage with the henchmen Catwoman was fighting but did spot where the girls were being kept and I took out two guards to free them and help them find their way to the police station. So yes, I did engage with the victims and two henchmen but did not engage with Catwoman or any other henchmen. I wasn't being reckless."

I figured by shifting the conversation to sounding defensive on taking some action he wouldn't ask too many questions about Catwoman.

"That's fine Robin, initially I didn't want you to engage but it sounds like you were being smart and safe and didn't take any unnecessary risks which is fine."

After we were done on the radio she had one more comment before she left. "Well it's good to know that you're not the type to kiss and tell." I shook my head and headed back home.


	6. Deathstroke

**DEATHSTROKE**

The wind in my face, the moment when gravity kicks in, it's terrifying when you are bracing yourself to hit the ground. How it came about is a blur to me now but Batman and I were following a lead on Black Mask when Deathstroke showed up. I was suddenly tackled by Batman behind a van to shield us from the fire from Deathstroke's automatic.

"D2" Batman stated, which stood for distract and disarm. He had a list of quick code terms to use with me in the field to keep us on the same page without needing many words. I snuck around one end of the van and threw batarangs at Deathstroke to cause the distraction and in the next split second batman shot the grapple gun from the other side to pull the automatic out of Deathstroke's hands. Deathstroke has inhuman reaction time but even he can't fend off two attacks at the same time.

Batman charged him before he can get to his pistols and yelled "split" at me. I was a bit disappointed. "Scatter" indicates lets separate and hide but still bring the target(s) down, "split" means that he wants me out of his way completely and to leave the area completely. I was reluctant and decided to stick around and watch the fight. To this day it still may be the best fight I had ever scene. They were evenly matched and both got sharper as the fight went on, neither willing to show any sign of fatigue. In my mind Batman was unbeatable but the longer I watched the more I began to worry. I didn't think Deathstroke would be this good at hand to hand combat and I doubt Batman did either. He had a reputation for killing with guns and swords but now it was clear how formidable he really was. Then it happened, Deathstroke landed a hard punch and I saw Batman hit the pavement after stumbling a few feet back. Possibly, Bruce would have recovered and came out on top in the fight but at that moment I let my instincts take over and charged in.

I didn't dare try to land a real strike because I knew Deathstroke would punish me if I left myself exposed even for a split second. I kept acting like I was going for a strike to keep him honest but really I was just focused on dodging and playing defense. It only lasted a few seconds but felt like eternity before Batman jumped back in and we fought him two on one. We put him on the defensive but still couldn't get the upper hand. He skipped back, got some space and pulled out his sword. Once again batman ordered me to leave and this time I listened. I got on my motorcycle and started to head away and all of a sudden I saw something fly beside my face and in front of me. It exploded and I fell off the bike trying to swerve away. Luckily I had just started moving and wasn't going very fast so the crash wasn't too bad on my body and I was able to avoid Deathstroke's grenade. I was all twisted around at first and as I was getting up I saw a sword flying at me. I dove out the way and ran like crazy as this mercenary seemed to have shifted his attention to me. Did he knock batman out? Kill him? Did he just dash away from Batman? No time to dwell on that, as I was the prey in a dangerous chase. I had no prayer of simply outrunning him so I turned it into a test of free running skills. Parkour was one of my strengths and my life depended on it at this moment.

The free running took some work but I picked up on it quick and soon was better than Bruce. I loved doing this training as I felt that it was a cool way to apply my acrobat skills in real life situations. He set up obstacle courses, timed me, and kept records of my progress always demanding that I have to be better than the day before. He often explained that the use of his gadgets was an aid but not something to rely on too heavily. Learning how to move through cluttered areas or scale buildings without the use of gadgets was vital to lasting in this line of work. The goal is to reach a level where you no longer have to think about how to get around or above an object, your body just reacts accordingly when in the heat of the moment. After I got accustomed to the usual courses, Bruce would often pick random areas to train me or not allow me to see the objects in my way beforehand. He would just tell me where I need to get to or what I need to find and I had to figure out the details on my own. As a final test he picked out a few courses/set ups and chased me through them. If I could last 10 minutes without him catching me I passed.

With Deathstroke in close pursuit, I purposely tried to run through tight areas and eventually came up to an alley that was blocked by a gate. I ran along the sidewall of the building and was able to leap from the wall to a nearby ladder. I climbed a few rungs and then jumped over the gate from the ladder. I didn't use the grapple earlier because I was afraid that Deathstroke would shoot me or something while I was ascending. After I turned the corner and got out of his line of sight, I grappled up a three story building and kept running. Deathstroke was still on my tail and Batman was chasing Deathstroke. I didn't have anywhere to go and nothing to grab on to as I approached the edge of the building. I took a quick peek back and realized Deathstroke was still behind me. I jumped off the building with no hesitation. While in midair I tried to turn around and use the grapple on the same building that I just jumped off of to slow down my fall. The grapple gun had a switch with three modes; "retract" which brings the gun and the grapple end together, "suspend" which locks both pieces in place, and "extend" which allows the rope to extend. I was able to switch it to "extend" but panicked as I found myself falling towards the ground way too fast. There is a knob that allows you to adjust the resistance and control how fast you descend but I didn't have much time and panicked. I turned the knob way too hard and it felt like I had switched it straight to "suspend" mode. I felt a strong jerk as I felt like the grapple gun almost pulled my arm out of its socket. I was able to hold on but the other problem was that I ended up getting jerked back towards the building and slammed into the side of it which caused me to let go the grapple gun and fall the rest of the way. Luckily for me the rest of the drop wasn't too far and I didn't sustain any serious injury when I hit the ground. Afterwards the cops showed up and Deathstroke vanished. Batman was able to use a smoke pellet to scoop me up and escape as well.

Bruce had a mixed response to my actions that night.

"What the hell were you thinking? When I say leave, you leave!" he stated.

"I…" I started.

"You pull a stunt like that again and your days in the field are over. What's the point of us having code words if you only follow them when you feel like it? I don't have time to explain my decisions in the field, you have to obey and obey swiftly."

"I'm sorry, it looked like you were in trouble," I responded.

"I'll let you know when I need your help. I'm the commander here. You need to recognize that now," he continued.

"I understand," I retorted as I was trying to be respectful but felt like he was in denial about having things under control.

"Despite your initial bad decision making, you did well afterward. Your ability to adapt on the fly kept you alive but we can't make a habit out of it. Don't get caught in the mentality that your strengths will make up for other weaknesses. Eventually you will run into a situation where you are in trouble too deep to get out of it," he lectured.

He continued to scold me for disobeying him but praised how I handled the high pressure situation. I never was completely sure why Deathstroke attacked me in the middle of his fight. My guess is that he figured I wasn't really leaving and planning a second surprise attack or just saw the opportunity and acted. Either way, that moment became the first time I took a criminals actions personally since my parents' murder. Deathstroke became the villain I wanted to take down the most. When I quit the Robin gig and became Nightwing many years later, I made him my first target.


	7. The Date

**THE DATE**

I met with Catwoman on a rooftop in the Burnley district. She asked a little bit about the Black Mask situation before we started.

"I think the fighting style that would suit you best is Capoeira. Have you ever trained in it?" Catwoman asked.

"I've heard of it but never directly trained in it," I responded.

Catwoman said, "Batman incorporates it some in his fighting but it's not a focus for him. He prefers more hard styles of fighting with more direct contact. For the more acrobatic and elusive, this is a good basis to have. There are 12 basic steps, we will start with the basic ginga."

I moved my feet to match hers, and then she adapted it to a more circular motion and started changing directions. "Just mirror me for now. Get accustomed to just using the proper footwork and changing based on the direction the attacker approaches," she instructed.

Afterwards I learned the passagem com, troca ginga, esquiva lateral, esquiva recuada, esquiva invertido, meia lua de frente, armada, queixada, meia lua de compass, rolé, and aú. Catwoman showed me how to incorporate the different steps and kicks in a real fight. The fluidity of the fighting style was beautiful but the real tricky part to it was its unpredictability. Most fighting styles I learned were much more direct and efficient with the movements. Many fighting styles encourage every movement to have a specific defensive or offensive purpose but Capoeira encourages constant movement that can lead to both defensive and offensive maneuvers. The unpredictability, freedom, and fluidity it allowed were great pros that complimented my acrobatic style but it also created many challenges for people that use it making it hard to use it to overcome other fighting styles. The amount of freedom in Capoeira makes the fighter more susceptible to making a bad decision in comparison to more disciplined styles. The constant movement requires better conditioning than your opponent will need. Last, since it relies on unpredictability, you have to have a mind creative enough to uphold the style. Many people will naturally start repeating the same movements they are comfortable with or start pre-planning attacks. This is actually detrimental to this fighting style as Capoeira works better if you maintain a mode of thinking on your feet.

Afterwards we did some sparring focusing on using Capoeira techniques until my worst nightmare showed up, Batman.

I noticed Catwoman suddenly stopped sparring and stood up straight. The she asked, "Is there a problem?"

Batman was standing right behind me and shoved me out of his way as he got in Catwoman's face and said, "What do you think you are doing?"

"The boy wanted to do a little sparring. No harm done Batman," she said.

"I don't appreciate you trying to steal my ward, if I see you even look at him again I'm going to lean extra hard on you and won't stop until you are behind bars in Blackgate," Batman threatened.

Catwoman replied, "Please, save it Bats, we both know you have bigger problems on your hand than me. Not to mention you couldn't catch me if you tried. Look, the boy came to me; I didn't lure him from you. Maybe you should take better care of your stuff instead of throwing a hissy jealousy fit."

Afterwards Catwoman turned to me, "See ya kid, Gotham has a little bit of everything, you can find whatever you are looking for here," and left the rooftop.

Batman turned to me with his glare, "I specifically told you to stay away from her and you disobeyed me. Do you think this is a game? You are either with me 100% or you are not a part of this. You disregarded my orders with Deathstroke and now this? Instead of coming to me, you go behind my back, and not to work with someone in proper channels; no, you go and become friends with a criminal."

"I guess I'm not so different from my teacher. You know she is a criminal but certainly don't treat her like one," I snapped back. "And coming to you about an issue? That works on some things but you are so determined into turning me into a little you, you overlook what I can do!"

"You don't know what you can do and seriously need to check your ego at the door. You have to learn how to follow before you can learn how to lead. If you can't do it my way then you are simply not ready. You may have the talent but you lack the maturity," Batman responded.

I finally decided to back down and get apologetic. "Look, I'm sorry, I won't do anything like that again. I want to learn from you but I don't want to be you. I just saw what Catwoman could do and thought I could learn some things from her. This was a one-time thing, I wasn't joining her crusade or whatever the hell she calls it."

Batman stayed silent for a moment and then finally said, "I will continue to train you but as for being Robin, you're fired. I don't trust you anymore. We can retry putting you out in the field in two years or so but if I'm going in the field with someone I need to be able to trust them with my life. It'll take a while before my trust in you is restored."

I got pissed. He had some nerve firing me. Not to mention, how he maintains his damn stoic demeanor and treating me like I hadn't been a capable partner. Also, I strongly felt that my pursuit of learning fighting styles wasn't related to being able to trust me in the field. It was written all over my face how disappointed I was and my response added to it. "You know what, forget you. I'm done. I don't want your training and I don't want to be your sidekick anymore."

"Too bad," he said. He still sounded like he could care less. His lack of emotion pissed me off even more as I started heading back home.

For the next week or so Alfred noticed how bad our relationship got. He didn't mind that I stopped training and being Robin but was very concerned about how often Bruce and I butted heads in our civilian demeanor and rarely talked. Alfred tried to talk to each of us to find a way to getting passed it but we were both too stubborn. It's strange but sometimes the only way to get over certain things is when something bigger comes along.


	8. Firefly

**FIREFLY**

The smoke in my face, being surrounded by fire, that moment when everyone is in panic, I got a taste of that.

During my sixth period history class another teacher walked into the room and quietly talked to my history teacher. I didn't think anything of it at first but as my history teacher started leaving the room she was certainly crying although trying to hide it from us. Something was very wrong and we all started chatting amongst ourselves on what could possibly be happening. The other teacher walked back into the room and told us that our teacher's husband worked at the Gotham Center and each building had been set on fire.

The Gotham Center is the name of a four-towered banking center located in the Diamond District in southern Gotham. It's the center point of this district and the towers were some of the tallest buildings in the city. At first, I couldn't imagine the nightmare of being one of the employees working 70 floors up to learn that the building is on fire but I got to see it first-hand quickly. Almost immediately after the teacher talked to us, the principal came on the speakerphone and asked for me to come to the office to be dismissed for the day since I was being picked up to go home. Wayne Enterprises is also located in the Diamond District so I knew Batman would already be on the scene. I hopped into the backseat of the Bentley Alfred was driving.

"Hello Master Grayson. How was school today?"

"Same as usual. So how bad is at the Gotham Center?"

"Well I'll be honest with you sir. A lot of lives hang in the balance today and I bet some have already been lost. I packed the fire resistant version of your outfit but don't get carried away. Save as many as you can but don't lose your life trying to save others."

"Anything else Bruce wanted me to know."

"Bruce didn't tell me to send you. I made that decision myself."

"Well I'll go ahead and call him now." Batman didn't answer.

Alfred explained, "We spoke briefly before he headed to the Gotham Center but everytime I have tried to contact him since he hasn't answered. I hope he is fine but fear the worst. I'm not just bringing you there to help the fire; I want you to make sure Batman is alright too. He is usually responsive and I get a bad feeling when he goes silent on me for extended periods of time."

"Seems like it's going to be a rough day," I said.

I finished putting my gear on in the car as Alfred pulled into an alley and dropped me off. It was weird operating in broad daylight. I was so used to the darkness and shadows that running around in my costume in broad day public felt extremely awkward. However I did my best grappling into places where people were still in danger and swinging them out. Man it was tough. Sure I was good on maneuvering through the building but helping carry grown people or grappling them around while inhaling smoke was tougher than any workout Batman could put me through. During it all, I never saw Batman which was very concerning to me.

I went back inside to look for more people. I called out but no one responded. Then I heard someone behind me. I turned expecting to see another victim and instead saw a man with a silver suit and a flamethrower gun spraying at me. I dashed out into a hallway and he chased me through the building. I threw a batarang to crack a glass window and then jumped through it. With pieces glass all over me I reached for my grapple gun and aimed it towards the next building.

I thought I had escaped him but looked back to see that he had a jet pack on his back with wings to help him guide. His mechanism didn't allow him to fly fluidly so although when he let off a blast from his jet pack he would propel forward very fast, and then try to glide his way in range. I tried to be more sporadic with my grapples but his flamethrower had an impressive range and I almost got burned on many occasions. I was running out of ideas along with getting frustrated and desperate.

After hurting myself during the Deathstroke chase Batman gave a more in depth lesson for me on using the grappling gun. I was feeling more confident in myself and also remembered that it can be used as a weapon as well.

I pretended to keep running but actually allowed him to get closer than usual. Then I turned my body in midair and shot my grapple gun right in his chest. The jerk of my added weight pulled him down and we were both heading down toward the street. He was fighting it and we were both getting jerked around too chaotically for him to be able to use his flamethrower since he was just trying to get control of his movements. It was good that I put him in a bad position but mine wasn't much better. We were gradually descending to the street and I was being jerked around so much that I couldn't focus on finding a good way to get out of the situation. Undoing the grapple would allow him to gain his control back but staying attached to an assassin with a flamethrower probably wasn't going to end well for me either. Time was running out as we were both sinking downward toward the street.

Then Batman appeared on my end of the grapple with me. With his added weight we were really starting to spiral downward. It felt like he was making things worse but I knew he had some type of plan. Through the chaos he took hold of my grapple gun and wrapped his arm around me to hold on to me. He pulled out his grapple to swing us away to safety but didn't pull the trigger at first. I didn't know what he was waiting on as we were falling much faster now and the ground was approaching incredibly fast. Finally he pulled the trigger and we were able to swing up just in time. We were less than 10 feet from crashing into the pavement but he swung us to safety.

I immediately understood why he waited so long though. It didn't give Firefly enough time to regain control. Firefly's crash wasn't a complete free fall but he did end up hitting the ground and wrecking all his equipment. The armor of his suit kept him alive and he was still able to use his jet pack to make an escape. With the police surrounding the area, we lost him as we also had to avoid the police.

"What happened to you? Where were you?" I asked Batman.

"During the fight I disappeared and he was unable to find me. So he left and went back to the building but I kept my eye on him the whole time. I lost sight when he entered the building but saw him chase you outside," he explained.

"Why did you wait so long to help me?" I asked.

"I wanted to catch him by surprise and wait until he was most vulnerable. At the same time I had to make sure that I intervened if you were in serious trouble. Both happened at the same time," he said.

"You didn't consider that serious trouble from the start?"

"Serious trouble relative to the job," he pointed out.

"I know" I responded.

"It was a gutsy move you pulled back there. Also, I'm really impressed with your ability to shoot the grapple gun with accuracy while in mid-air. It took me forever to get good at that," he admitted.

"So what happened before I got there?" I asked.

Batman explained, "Firefly set the buildings on fire to lure me out, then attacked me while I was in the building. He had the advantage in the burning building so I led the fight elsewhere. You know, I didn't expect you to be here today but I'm glad you were. Another assassin fended off but we have to get to Black Mask directly for all this to stop. I'll include you in my next Black Mask objective."

"Arright," I said.

That night I drove the motorcycle out to Robinson Park where my history teacher stayed and was pleased to see her husband made it out alive. Unfortunately I wasn't much of a secret anymore. All over the news the next day there were questions about whom the kid in red suit was and if he was affiliated with the Batman. Controversy regarding Batman's willingness to put a teenager in harm's way and also support from the victims I saved were on it as well. I enjoyed being a hot topic but did worry that the attention was only going to make me more of a target.

The beef Bruce and I had seemed to completely dissipate. We didn't discuss the details of how we were going to change things or make sure we didn't run into the same problems. There was no official verbal commitment about me becoming Robin again and moving forward. It wasn't needed; we had disagreements but didn't have the luxury of working them out on our own schedule. Our enemies were out there whether we were ready or not and Firefly's stunt put what we do back into perspective. I went back into the training with a more humble and obedient attitude. I didn't want him to doubt my ability and maturity. At the same time, I noticed he opened up a little more towards my opinions and helped me find a Capoeira teacher in Gotham I could work with once a week. We were a team again but that didn't make being Robin any easier.


	9. Lacey Towers Murder

**LACEY TOWERS MURDER **

A few years ago an Englishman simply referred to as the Penguin had infiltrated and overthrown the Italian mobs in Gotham. Some say he was more instrumental in the fall of the Don Falcone and Don Maroni than Batman himself. The Penguin's gang was one of the last that Batman knew for sure wasn't in league with Black Mask and his assassins. Although far from allies, we had a common enemy and decided to see if he had any information to help us. However, just holding a conversation with him was no easy task. He was hard to find and definitely would avoid Batman at all costs. Batman had word on an arms deal Penguin's men were involved in that we were going to crash. It was a routine strike from above while the men were in the alley. The trick to arms deals is always to strike right when the exchange is made. Before the arms deal, everybody is still on edge and scared the cops will show so they are clutching their pieces. However, if you wait too long after the exchange, they are generally in a rush to get out of there and become a little more attentive again.

We dropped in while they were making their exchange and disarmed the arms dealers and the last man standing from Penguin's men. Batman interrogated the last one.

"Where's the Penguin?" Batman asked.

"I…. don't ….. know," the English henchman uttered struggling to speak.

"Where is he?" Batman repeated. The henchman passed out.

"Damn!" Batman said. He accidentally choked the man until he was unconscious. Now we had to wait until he woke up before we could get an answer. When the henchman woke up, he was hanging upside down from the Clock tower with Batman holding his ankle with one hand. Once the guy came into realization of what was going on he started to struggle and yell out to Batman.

"Let me go!" he screamed. This was the wrong choice of words and Batman loved it.

"If you insist" Batman replied letting the guy freefall for about 30 feet until the rope line stopped. Then he pulled him back and chatted with him some more.

"Time to talk. Where's Cobblepot?" he asked again.

"Please stop! Stop! I'll tell you anything you want to know! Please!" the henchmen pleaded. After he told us the location, we tied him up and Batman gave me some last instructions before he was on his way.

"Robin, hold him here until I can confirm that he was telling the truth. If he is not," Batman said as he gave the henchmen an extremely harsh gear, "I'll be back. If he is telling the truth, leave him here. Someone will eventually see him and call the cops." I did as told and Batman arrived at Penguin's hideout. I heard over the radio someone speaking to Batman. It appeared he had come in contact with Penguin's wench Tracy.

"There's the naughty Batman. Let's give him a proper welcome," Tracy said in her thick English accent. Penguin rolled with plenty of muscle but at this time they were no match for Batman. Eventually he was able to get his one on one conversation with the Penguin. There was a standoff at first but once Batman explained that he wasn't there to apprehend the Penguin, but to find out what he knows about Black Mask. Penguin didn't say much at first but eventually gave him something to look into. He said there was a safe room at Lacy Towers that Black Mask's top guys often met at. Penguin didn't have any key information on Black Mask whereabouts or his assassins but the Lacey Towers lead allowed us to take the next step.

"Once you get Black Mask out the way, you can just leave Gotham to me Bats," the Penguin said.

"You wish," Batman replied as we left for Lacey Towers.

It was mentioned that there was a police investigation at Lacey Towers but it wasn't leaked to the press what actually happened. He arrived near the building and Batman used his binoculars to gather all he could.

"It's certainly a murder scene. There are two dead bodies; it looks like one male and one female. Certainly guns fired but also a struggle. It looks like someone tried to enter from the balcony outside the room," Batman explained.

I had no idea how he could tell all that from looking. Batman continued, "There is a chance that Penguin sent us on a wild goose chase, but the fact that the police are keeping this under wraps makes me think it may be connected to Black Mask. It's definitely not being treated like other murders so something is different here. The media doesn't know so the only way we can find out is by going directly to the police department."

"I don't like where this is going," I admitted.

"In this city, the cops aren't much better than the criminals. They are trigger happy, greedy, corrupt, … you name it. Not all, but a lot are. Just treat them like you would any other criminal organization and you won't feel any guilt or awkwardness about it. We need to steal the files they have on this case for everyone's safety," Batman said.


	10. Intruders

**INTRUDERS**

"Master Bruce, you are directly beneath the GCPD. The telecom wires should be right under your nose," said Alfred.

We used the sewer tunnels to make our way to the police station. From there we were able to sneak into the lower levels of the actual building. It was late in the day so many of the officers had left but there was still a good portion at the station. We had gone over the schematics of the building but I was still nervous. I had to sneak up to the second floor, get across the other side of the building and then sneak back down the basement floor. Batman was going to provide the distraction to make sure I got back out and into the sewers without any trouble. We opened the door to the stairs and heard two cops coming down. We quickly disappeared under the stairs. They were only going from the second floor to first so they were still a full floor above us. Afterward, I made my way to the second floor and started navigating through it to the other side of the building. Batman stayed behind and planted his explosives. I descended down the stairs and slowly opened the door.

"Is someone there?" I heard a voice call out. I didn't answer. I just entered the room quickly and hid behind the shelves. There were only two people there, one at a desk and the other messing with stuff on the shelf. I knew I needed to go for the shelf guy first. I snuck around and got behind him, climbed up his back and choked him out with my legs since they were more effective than my arms during that time. I thought about attacking the guy at the desk but figured I may be able to find the files and leave without him knowing. I continued to sneak around when all of a sudden I heard a loud alarm go off.

"WE HAVE AN INTRUDER IN THE BUILDING! WE BELIEVE IT IS THE BATMAN! REPEAT WE HAVE AN INTRUDER IN THE BUILDING!"

Unphased by the alarm and panic that had hit the station, soon I heard Batman on the radio calmly tell me, "Plan B, but get the files first." Batman let off the explosives on the second floor. I wasn't sure if he was using it for direct defense or misleading his location. I started moving way faster around the shelves looking for the Lacey Tower's files but was still having no luck. Plus the guy from the desk started calling out to his passed out partner. I asked myself what would Batman do? I already knew the answer, but didn't like it one bit. I counted to three and put on the act of a lifetime. I threw a smoke pellet towards the officer, charged in and disarmed him, but was careful not to knock him out. I needed him conscious to tell me where I can find the file. However, I didn't know how to interrogate or intimidate like Batman could. I wasn't strong enough to hold someone up in the air with one hand like him, so how was I going to pull this off. I fought the old man and started pulling my punches because I was so worried about seriously hurting him. I was so ashamed of pummeling the old man but I had to make him vulnerable if he was going to give it up. I let up for a second and it turned out to be a big mistake, he pulled out a taser and almost got me with it. All of a sudden I found myself on the defensive and bumped into a bookshelf and tripped while dodging his attacks. While I was on the ground, he made a move to tase my ankle but I quickly moved my leg to dodge it and then kick him in the knee and scrambled away. This was getting embarrassing now and I was glad Batman wasn't watching.

Once I got back to my feet I was able to get back to using my training and was able to land some shots to cause him to drop his taser. I finally put him into an ankle lock and told him to tell me where to find the Lacey Towers case. He gave in and I was able to get it and leave. I used the first floor to get back to the other side of the building. Everyone was still chasing Batman on the higher floors so it was empty. Once I got cleared I alerted Batman.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"I had to take down like 10 guys," I lied to him.

"Don't wait on me, I'll find a way out but you need to go ahead and get out of here."

It was a long walk back through the sewers before I got to a safe location to come up to the surface. I called for the Batwing and took the ride home by air. Once Batman arrive he looked at the files for about two hours and then called Alfred and I into the den and told us his findings.

"Alfred, I have enough information to solve the Lacey Towers case. By now, Gotham P.D. thinks Roman Sionis is dead – the casualty of a turf war. Murdered by the Penguin. No wonder he wants me to solve this case, he has been wrongfully accused of this murder. But I know better. Someone spooked Sionis' girlfriend. The pictures indicate she was receiving texts from an unknown number threatening her and a Roman Sionis. The person in the unknown number referred to himself as the Joker. So Roman sent her to this safe house which was anything but safe. Then he sent two of his men who showed up later, ready for trouble. And found it. He sent one person in first almost as a decoy, giving the second one the element of surprise but it wasn't enough. The first person was shot soon after he entered the room. The second one tried to enter from the balcony to sneak up on the murderer. However, he must have been heard and lost his element of surprise. At some point he tackled the killer and a scuffled ensued that the killer won. Although the second guy lost as well, he was kept alive. The killer didn't hesitate to shoot the first decoy, but wanted to really punish the second, possibly it was Roman. With both men under control all that remained was to tie up loose ends. The fire was used to destroy evidence and the male body, but it wasn't the fire that killed Sionis' girlfriend. These white streaks are shoe polish. Whoever shot the woman was being dragged along the floor. Besides the victims, there were two other people in the room. The woman's shooter and whoever was dragging this shooter. The killer forced the second henchman to shoot the woman while he was on the ground. You can tell because of the shallow trajectory of the bullet and the pattern of gun powder residue. The fire spread as a result of a Molotov cocktail thrown into the room probably intended to destroy the evidence. The Joker, he's the culprit in this case. Black Mask is the shadow I've been chasing but we will need to look for this twisted guy as well. He must have taken the second guy alive for a reason and who knows what he is doing to him."

Bruce took some of his samples to Wayne Laboratories to do some further investigation and found out that there were traces of coke and iron ore at the scene that was uncharacteristic of the hotel. After looking at the Gotham map he made a conclusion.

"Robin, I believe this Joker character is hiding out in the closed down steel mill. If he knows Black Mask's safe house, he is our best chance to finding him. Based on this case though, even by Gotham standards, he is one sick bastard. Let's make sure we investigate the Steel Mill by the book."

"I understand," I replied. Being a vigilante leads down some unpleasant paths. One day I find myself beating up an innocent old cop, the next I'm trying to save a scumbag who is part of an organization that wants us dead just because we may be able to get info out of him. Batman didn't have to teach me any lessons that day though. I learned my lesson about underestimating opponents.


	11. Interrogate First, Rescue Later

**INTERROGATE FIRST, RESCUE LATER**

It took us hours to explore the Steel Mill but eventually started seeing people with clown masks and guns guarding an area. There was only a handful and Batman took them down easily. We were disappointed that the Joker was nowhere to be found but were fortunate to find the man we were looking for. As soon as Batman took out his mouth gag it was written all over his face that he despised us. This was a very bizarre feeling for me since the last time I rescued people they were incredibly grateful. Batman questioned him about the Joker and the henchman named Seth told what happened at Lacey Towers which matched Batman's deduction. When questioned about who the Joker was, what his beef with Black Mask was, or any other information regarding the Joker, Seth knew nothing. Batman tried to intimidate but it was clear that there was no information Seth had on him and that there was no reason he would protect the Joker. We had to temporarily give up our Joker trail and focus on the primary reason we were there.

"Where is Black Mask hiding!" Batman yelled at upper level henchmen as he kicked the chair Seth was tied to on its side.

"I swear I don't know!" he pleaded.

"Well I guess you're useless to me" Batman snapped back and started walking away with Seth still tied up.

"Wait!" he screamed.

"You're wasting my time." Batman responded.

I played good cop and chimed in "you better give him something."

The henchmen finally gave in and stated, "Look, his real name is Roman Sionis. I don't know where he stays or anything like that. But he usually has meetings in the River Tower building in the Old Gotham District. Please get me out of here! I don't care if you kill me or bring me to the police but this lunatic will torture me. He already made me shoot Roman's mistress against my will. Don't leave me here with this guy. I've done some bad things but don't deserve this."

We left him tied up brought him to the front door of the police station. He was so thankful we didn't leave him with the Joker it was really bizarre. I had watched henchmen interrogation since the start of this case. Batman had questioned at least 60 different people and it was never a direct ladder to Black Mask. It was a confusing web of hearing some of the same names drop or dead ends in regard to people not knowing who they really answer to. But this time we got something valuable. Just knowing the place he likes to have meetings brought us exponentially closer than anything we had before. We could scope out the area and plan a strategy to finally catch the man behind it all. Once the money was off the table the assassins would lose incentive to hunt down batman directly but as long as he was out there, the attempts would never stop and it was only a matter of time until someone got lucky. Times were changing though and with me watching his back and improving every day, Batman was becoming more invincible and unreal in criminal world and public's eye. I didn't intend to be a sidekick forever; I wanted to be on par with him to truly form a dynamic duo.

The next night we set up cameras around the River Tower building so we can keep tabs on it at all times. Batman also wired the system to alert him of any activity around the building so he knew to check the cameras. It remained empty for the next few days and Batman decided we should infiltrate the building to be even more ready.

The building in Old Gotham looked aged on the outside but was tough to sneak into. Luckily it was unoccupied so we had some time to break in. I was able to grapple to a ledge but still had to scale parts of the wall to get to the targeted window. The ledge on the window was too thin to stand on so I had to hold with one hand and place a suction cup against the wall. Then I attached a stick to the suction cup that allowed me to stand and was able to start picking the window lock.

After I got it open I scanned closely for any cameras but didn't see anything in the room. I took off the cover of a plug outlet and clipped on an electrical tracker to the wiring inside. The device sends out a small current to give a rough estimate of where the wiring leads to. By doing this enough times in different outlets throughout the building, we are able to determine where the main computer system is. On the outside, Batman inhibited the electrical current to the building to shut down the cameras but unfortunately shut down everything else as well and made it pitch black to me. After I located the main frame in the building I contacted Batman to turn the power back on and I hacked into their system. By bugging the mainframe, we could now see some of what was going on in the building from the Batcave.

I used my own personal camera to walk through the building and get a video recording to show Batman the layout inside. The prep work wasn't too exciting but necessary to make sure we did this hit correctly when the time comes. And we needed every bit of it.

After that our life reverted back to solving smaller cases and playing the waiting game for the next few days.

Then the snow storm and Christmas Eve came.


	12. Infiltration

**INFILTRATION**

The wind in the face, being suspended in the air, that moment when gravity kicks in, I saw someone else end up on the wrong side of that.

We saw activity in the River Tower building we were keeping tabs on and took the Batwing to venture out. There was a snowstorm that night and only the main roads and highways were clear. We took out some guards and found a backdoor entrance. He took point and I followed behind going through the halls taking out a few henchmen on our way. After sneaking around a little more we spotted Black Mask entering a room and I was filled with nervousness and excitement. This was the moment we have been waiting for and we had to play this right.

"Robin, you are taking out the guards, if you don't get them all down by the time the smoke clears, make an escape and get out of here," Batman whispered. He proceeded to take out his explosive gel and spray it against the wall of the room Black Mask was in. "Once you start I will bust through this wall and surprise Black Mask and anyone who is in there. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Go whenever you are ready," he told me.

They all had guns concealed so I knew I had to strike quick to make sure they didn't get a chance to use them. I rolled a smoke pellet in the middle of the three of them and threw a batarang at the first one's forehead as they all looked down at the smoke pellet. As the other two turned to look my direction I was already sprinting at one to give a jump kick in the face just before the smoke pellet went off. With the smoke everywhere I had one more guy to put down. I could hear his movements and was able to sneak behind him and do a leg sweep. Then while on the ground I choked him out. I checked the other two to make sure they were knocked out as well. I tried to open the door where Black Mask was but it was locked. I ran around to where Batman had blown a hole through the wall and saw him getting double teamed by Sportsmaster and Huntress. There were a few goons laid out on the ground along with Black Mask's mask. The mask wasn't near anybody so it was hard to identify if any of the goons was him. Batman was holding his own but was certainly in trouble and once again I felt compelled to jump in.

Sportsmaster and Huntress were two homegrown Gotham criminals. Sportsmaster was a hitman that often carried hockey gear in a sports bag when traveling only to surprise someone by killing them with a hockey stick. There had been reports that some of his murders occurred while impersonating coaches of other sports as well giving him the nickname. Huntress was known for her crossbow and springing traps on innocent victims. Often finding a way to trap people in rooms or hunt them with her crossbow. Each was very capable fighters and wouldn't hesitate to kill Batman together and split the reward.

I charged in on Huntress keeping in mind some of my sparring with Catwoman and what I had learned about how some of these assassin women fight. She wasn't quite as technically skilled as Catwoman but I still couldn't get the upper hand on her. I was playing it a little safe though as my goal wasn't to win the fight but just keep her busy so Batman could win his. There was no backup plan outside of that. I had faith in him.

The other fight was to my back but I could see Huntress's eyes start to wander. I turned into an NFL lineman as all she was trying to do was get around me and I kept getting in her way to help out her man. I saw the desperation in her face and actions. The Batman fight had spilled outside of the room through where he had blown the hole through and was now near stairs. Huntress dashed through the door to the room and ran around to rescue her boyfriend. I ran to catch up but was going to be late, I yelled out to Batman to watch out. Huntress had taken to the air in her attempt to pounce on Batman but in his struggle he had pulled Sportsmaster in Huntress's path. In her attempt to avoid hitting her boyfriend she lost all balance and ended up tumbling down the nearby stairs and crying out in serious pain. I knew how tough she was and hearing her bawl like a little girl was definitely alarming. Sportsmaster immediately ran down to tend to her and started to carry her away.

"Do we go after them?" I asked.

"Hopefully, we don't have to," Batman responded. Afterwards he ran down and cornered Sportsmaster with his girlfriend in his arms and laid down his threat.

Batman said to Sportsmaster, "If you tell me where Black Mask is, I'll let you go."

"Fine. The real meeting is in the Gotham Royal Hotel. He likes setting up decoy meetings in places that he believes have been compromised to test if they really are compromised. That's where he is right now."

"If you are lying to me, I'll hunt you down. Don't make me do that."

"I'm not in the mood to mess around. Paula…. I mean Huntress needs me right now. We may cross paths again someday, but as for this Black Mask bounty business. I'm out."

We left and made our way to the luxury hotel. Batman explained on the way that when he entered the room he found out that the Black Mask there was actually Sportsmaster in disguise. We weren't as close to ending this as we thought but at least we hadn't hit a dead end and were on to our next location.

Years later we would face Sportsmaster again but this version of Huntress was never seen or heard from again. She is still alive somewhere but there is no doubt in my mind that her hitwoman career ended that night.

The night was still young though and this was only the beginning of our gauntlet.


	13. Gotham Royal Hotel

**GOTHAM ROYAL HOTEL**

The ride on the Batwing was tense. There was no time for planning and although the idea of finally pinning down Black Mask was exciting, there was no telling what was in store for us. Potentially the remaining assassins were there already and we might as well have been walking into a trap.

"Stay in the Batwing. I have no idea what to expect and need to operate alone from this point," Batman said.

"Oh, so you think I'll slow you down or get in your way? I know you don't like it, but you are going to need my help just like in the River Tower building. I know my role and know how you operate."

"If something happens to you, I'll never forgive myself. There are calculated risks I'll take. This isn't one of them."

"So you only measure the calculated risk for me but not for you? You can't have it both ways. Either I'm your sidekick or I'm not."

"I see your point. But right now I need your support from a distance. I'll let you know if I run into trouble. That's not up for debate. Got it?"

"Yes sir, but if you die and I'm not contacted, I'll… I don't know. Just let me know Batman."

With that he ejected out of the Batwing and found a way into a side door of the hotel. He was able to use one of his gadgets to unlock and go up the stairs figuring that one of the penthouses was the room of Black Mask's gathering. Alfred called the hotel and asked about room availability to see if he could narrow down which room Black Mask was in. I was piloting the Batwing around to see if I noticed any activity in the rooms. After the three of us narrowed it down Batman started to converge on the room, but as Batman approached it, the Electrocutioner opened the door of a nearby room and attacked him. I asked if he needed help but Batman said it was just one guy and that he could take him. The trick to fighting Electrocutioner was to dodge everything. His shock gloves electrocute his victims on impact and trying to block a punch did you no good. Batman got the upper hand and defeated him but the commotion certainly alerted Black Mask and his men. They opened the door and started firing their guns at Batman forcing him to retreat and take cover. Black Mask was going to get away and our opportunity was slipping away.

What do you want me to do? I asked.

"Just hang tight and keep your eyes on Black Mask. You have to find out where he is going."

At first I didn't think my task would be too hard, and I saw Black Mask and his men head up to the roof. Then things got difficult. A police helicopter showed up as well as one for Black Mask. I didn't want to try to have an aerial fight with either in the Batwing out of fear of killing them or getting myself killed so I ejected out of my seat and sent the Batwing elsewhere. The Black Mask helicopter started firing on the police one and I decided I had to help. I fired my grapple line beside the helicopter door and tied it to the end to the building. The helicopter had no chance flying away and luckily the policemen in it heard the grapple shot and were able to identify it as a safe way out of the helicopter. They used what they could find to hold on to zipline from the helicopter to the building before it was shot down and crashed. They had a rough landing but survived. After I quickly checked on them I attached the tracker piece to the grapple gun to shoot a tracker onto their helicopter. It was a little further away and this time my shot was off. After missing the first shot, I reached to attach the 2nd one but as I aimed my doubt crept in and I became scared of missing the second shot.

"Damnit," I said to myself under my breath. Black Mask was on board and the helicopter was heading away. I grappled from building to building with my grapple set at full power essentially catapulting me even further then where the grapple attached. I had to catch up to the helicopter as soon as possible often forcing myself to decide in mid-air where my next grapple shot would be. I finally got close enough to grapple to the bottom piece of the helicopter. Hanging from the bottom of the helicopter I attached the tracker manually and attached the corners of my cape to my boots to switch it to more of a wing suit set up. The wing suit adjustment certainly isn't as good as a real hang glider but was going to have to be enough for right now. The helicopter was gaining altitude quick so I had to act fast. I attached my grapple to the helicopter and lowered myself as far as it would go. Then I detached the grapple and did my rough gliding until I was able to grapple my way into a safe stop. I tried to radio Batman but there was no response and I started assuming the worst.

Then the Batwing showed up. He opened the door and simply said "Let's go."

"How come you're not going directly toward the tracker? I said.

"I was listening to the police radio and something else came up," he said.

"What could be so important that we put off following Black Mask?"

"Firefly stopped traffic on the Gotham Bridge and is threatening to bomb it and kill everybody on it if I don't show up and face him," he explained.

"Geez."

"This guy loves his fire and explosions way too much to be bluffing too. Four of the pillars in the bridge have an indoor area below the bridge where he placed the bomb and has a few Black Mask goons helping keep the police at bay from getting to them. I got a plan to subdue Firefly but first you will have the easy job of infiltrating the 4 pillars, clearing the room and disarming the bombs."

"Easy?" I asked.

"As long as you listen to my instructions," he added.

"I'm all ears."


	14. The Bridge is Over

**THE BRIDGE IS OVER**

The wind in my face, being suspended in the air, that moment when gravity kicks in, Firefly was the only person that knew that feeling as well as me.

The plan was for Batman to engage Firefly primarily to distract him while I disarmed the bombs. During this he would mainly be getting chased and talking me through disarming the bombs and staying defensive.

"Trust me, the bombs will be a cakewalk compared to taking down Firefly. I would disarm the bombs myself but I'm the one he is looking for and although you did well last time, I'm not going to have you run decoy against him. I'll fill you in on the Firefly part later," Batman told me.

Batman was able to hack into the frequency on the police radio. I listened in. "Don't send in your men, Firefly has the bridge rigged with explosives," Batman warned.

Officer Gordon said, "How did you get on this frequency? Get off right now!"

"Don't bring anybody else in until I take down Firefly myself," Batman warned.

"You will stay the hell out of this" said Officer Gordon.

"Damnit, does anyone else have eyes on Brandon?" Gordon said to the other officers.

"No Sir. I think we lost him," one replied.

There was a bomb on each of the four main pillars on the bridge. Both ends of the bridge had a few henchmen guarding the area near the pillars. Two of them appeared to be snipers with the other four holding machine guns. I brought up the idea of sneaking to the bomb without engaging but Batman told me there was too big of a risk of me getting spotted. My only choices were to engage directly or find a way to distract them while I snuck by. I didn't have a good distraction plan in mind so I figured the direct approach was going to have to work. I had two smoke pellets and I didn't want to use them at the same time. I attached the grapple above where my assailants were and ran to a side of the bridge. I swung down towards my assailants with one hand holding the grapple handle and the other firing away with batarangs. Once they started turning towards me I threw the smoke pellet and was able to kick two before I landed.

Fighting inside the smoke pellet took a lot of practice. You have to scan where everyone is before the smoke hits and keep a vivid image in your head where everyone is relative to you. Step two is listening closely. Sometimes it is noisy and sometime it is quiet, but either way you have to listen to each sound and assess how to attack. Once you make contact with the person, then you have to determine what body part you hit to visualize where the rest of him is to make sure you take him down. While you are fighting one you are still thinking about the others in the smoke and thinking of your next move. All of this has to be done in a matter of seconds and each situation is unique. I stayed low moving from person to person. They were hesitant to shoot since didn't want to hit their own men which played in my favor well. As the smoke started to clear up I dropped a second smoke bomb near the remaining henchmen. I took one down but the other eluded me and I started to worry. As the smoke cleared up, he lifted his gun and pointed it directly for me. I wasn't going to be able to disarm him in time and my instincts took over. As he pulled the trigger I quickly leapt to the side and threw batarang in mid-air that cut right into his neck. He immediately dropped the gun and was covering his neck with both hands and violently shaking on the ground. I had used a dull batarang but from that close it still cut him and I was terrified I killed him. I jumped on the radio immediately.

"Get the EMTs here asap! This guy's neck is bleeding! It's at the south end of the Gotham bridge!"

With mixed feelings, I grappled to the bomb and got on the feed with Batman.

"The wires are blue, white, yellow, and green. Which do I cut first?"

Batman had me describe the bomb and talked me through it. Afterwards I made my way to the other and disarmed it as well. Fortunately, the cops had engaged Firefly's crew on the other end which freed me up to help Batman.

Now that I was tuned into the police radio, I was hearing the arguing between Batman and Lieutenant Gordon.

"Gordon, keep your men back! I'll handle it! C'mon Robin get over here!"

"Get the hell off this frequency"

"You'll stay put if you know what's good for you," Batman responded.

"Batman, stay out of my way and let me do my job!"

Gordon had sent men in and one was burned alive. Firefly's armor could deflect bullets and they didn't have an answer for his flamethrower. Once they retreated Batman and I were able to get to work. He let me in on his plan to neutralize Firefly and reloaded me with some gadgets.

Batman instructed me over the radio, "Attach a grapple to the biggest vehicle you can find and shoot Firefly with it. That should keep him from being able to move too much or at least cause him to try to burn it off."

"Arright, I got this blue tanker truck over here. If you lure him over here I'll get him."

"I'll get him somewhat close but I don't want him causing your truck to explode. I'm not sure what's in there," he warned.

"I got you."

Batman was maneuvering between the cars on the bridge and dodging each flame burst narrowly. He could have avoided the flames better but I could tell he was making it close so that Firefly would keep pursuing him aggressively and not switch the strategy. Batman got him close and I had an open shot right at his back. I attached the other part of the line to the truck which jerked him back once the line tightened.

"I rolled a glue grenade your way. You know what to do," Batman told me.

We had discussed after our last bout with Firefly about ways to neutralize his flight capabilities and Batman came up with the glue grenade. It was impossible to throw or shoot something directly into his exhaust because he moved too fast and it was a small target. The glue grenade would explode all over him and restrict his movements and clog up his exhaust but there was inconsistency on how long it would be effective. It could be 15 to 45 seconds before he would break free of it.

I threw the grenade directly at his exhaust and it impeded his movement but didn't stop it entirely.

Then Batman went full beast mode, he grabbed the grapple line and pulled Firefly in out of the air. Firefly was able to break his arms free but had no chance in this tug-of-war. He still had his flamethrower though. Soon, Firefly gave up on trying to pull back and prepared to use his flamethrower.

"Don't let him burn me!" I heard Batman yell through the radio and out loud.

"On it!" I responded.

Right as Firefly was about to spray his flamethrower I started bombarding him with my remaining batarangs. Batman gave one last really strong tug to launch Firefly toward him. Firefly tried to get to his flamethrower but it was too late. Batman was punching him through the armor and slammed him on the ground.

Once Firefly stopped moving Batman took a step back and used his cape to cover himself in case Firefly was playing possum for one last fire attack. We tied him up to the truck for the police to come pick him up.

"We're done here, let's go," Batman said.

As we turned to leave Gordon was a few feet away. He didn't say anything at first, just stood there and looked at us.

"U didn't listen," Batman said.

"Not big on taking orders from wanted men," Gordon responded.

"Not big on taking orders from cops," Batman said.

"Well maybe we should talk," Gordon said.

"We will," Batman said as we grappled into the Batwing and flew away.


	15. The Warehouse

**THE WAREHOUSE**

The wind in my face, being suspended in the air, the moment when gravity kicks in, that wasn't an option as long as Deadshot was out there.

Batman and I got back on Black Mask's trail and found the helicopter near a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. We started wandering through it looking for clues on his location. Then unexpectedly Batman grabbed me and started running. He shoved me through an opening and dove inside hiding behind a wall.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I spotted a red dot on me. It had to be a sniper and knowing Black Mask it's gotta be Deadshot."

"Well, if we move fast enough there is no way he can hit us."

"You don't understand. Deadshot can. I've heard he hit a target in a car while riding on a train running perpendicular to the road. He never misses and he never makes mistakes. We got lucky he didn't get a chance to pull the trigger this time, but he knows where we are and one slip up is instant death."

"Got it. So what's the plan?"

"I'll use some smoke pellets and slip out undetected and make my way over to him. The problem is, he could be as far as two miles away and I will have to sweep all the way around and behind him to make sure he doesn't see me coming. This is going to take a while but stay put and I'll let you know when I get him."

There was a room attached to the one we were in but it didn't lead anywhere else. Batman had me wait in there until I got word from him. The roof had some openings with all sorts of random beams going all over the place. I gazed up for a while wondering what caused the destruction. Some moonlight shined through so it wasn't completely dark. There was some snow coming through but I patiently waited thinking about Deadshot and how Batman was doing. I was comfortable in the dark but did get a little paranoid thinking that I was being watched or something in the room had moved. Once I took some deep breaths and finally started to relax I spotted a shadow move for real and before I knew it, Copperhead had pounced on me.

Copperhead jumped on my upper back wrapping her legs around my neck to choke me. I felt the bulk of her body on my shoulders and back. In a desperate attempt to get free, I threw myself on the ground sandwiching her between my body and the floor. Her legs loosened and I was able to get out the chokehold but now we were both on the ground in a wrestling match. She got behind me and was closing in on another chokehold but I jerked my head back and head-butted her in the face. I was able to rise to my feet but she continued to try to pin me and choke me. A few more rounds of this struggle went on and once again I was scared to take a big risk but knew I had to. It was only a matter of time before she got the upper-hand. I wanted to pull off a move that could drop her on her head but knew if I went for it that she could lock in her chokehold on me. I needed one arm to lock around her head and the other to move her body in the right position leaving me temporarily defenseless if I didn't pull it off. I finally went for it and felt her tighten around my neck as I planted her head on the ground. Her head was busted open and bleeding profusely. While on the ground I rolled away quickly and staggered to my feet. She only applied her grip for a second but I was choking so bad that I almost vomited after we both hit the ground. I staggered back to my feet and thought I had won the fight for sure but was mistaken. I glanced over at her and saw her staggering back to her feet. I took a few more steps back and gave myself some distance. I couldn't survive another wrestling match so I had to turn round two into a striking contest.

For the second part of our fight I relied heavily on what Catwoman had taught me during my sparring with her. Of course, fighting Copperhead was different but there were similarities as she too prefers to dodge attacks over blocking them. I stayed conservative in the fight and neither of us landed any square strikes. However it was a tiring match up for both of us as we both rely on agility and much movement. As she got more frustrated she started mocking me and calling me names like "Pendejo" and "Cabron". My body should have been physically exhausted but the adrenaline rush of facing a true killer overpowered it. As the fight progressed we both got sloppier and more shots were landed although no knockout hits. Her head was still bleeding and she was weakening faster than I. I finally out maneuvered her and landed a three hit combo that put me in the driver seat. She collapsed but I hit her a few more times to make sure she was knocked out. I started to reach for my wire or other means of tying her up but knowing her contortion abilities I didn't trust them. I was able to find an empty 55 gallon drum. I picked her up and stuffed her in one and sealed the lid. Then I poked a hole in the cover to allow her to breathe some. I looked up at the broken up roof with the mess of beams running everywhere thinking to myself how only she could have maneuvered through that without making any noise. Batman finally returned.

I started the conversation acting like nothing happened, "How did things go on your end?"

"It was tough but I was able to find an opening to get to him. He is a much better hand-to-hand fighter than I expected though….. Robin? What the hell happened to you?" As Batman got closer he started to realize that I had blood all over me and was bruised up.

"It's okay. Copperhead attacked me."

"Where is she now?"

"In the drum over there."

"You beat her? Did she poison you?"

"I don't think so."

"Take the antidote anyway and call it a night just in case. You helped me get this far but I'll handle the rest from here. Even if you are not poisoned, you are in no condition to keep going tonight."

"Fine," I said as I took the antidote and the Batwing back to the mansion. Alfred tended to me but we stayed on the link with Batman as he continued to search for Black Mask. He ran into Bane and was able to take him down and was getting closer and closer to Black Mask. Then Deathstroke showed up. I put my suit back on and called for the Batwing.

Alfred tried to stop me, "Master Grayson, Bruce specifically told…"

"I don't care. That guy almost killed both us. I'm already charged up. I wanna piece of him and Bruce will need my help with him"

"Keep your head on straight. Your purpose is to provide backup, not challenge menaces to society like Deathstroke. You are a sidekick, don't get carried away."

"I know how dangerous Deathstroke is… and that's exactly why I need to be there. I started this whole sidekick job because of Black Mask and his assassins and I'm going to see it to the end. Wish me luck."

"I'll pray for you both," Alfred said as I was rushing out the Batcave.


	16. Showdown

**SHOWDOWN**

The wind in my face, being suspended in the air, that moment when gravity kicks in while dropping in on a dangerous situation. That's what I experienced that night.

I restocked my equipment and brought a staff with me. Knowing how Deathstroke loves his weapons I wanted to be well prepared for him.

Batman would later recount what had happened prior to my arrival. He had found Black Mask in the warehouse with only 3 guards left. First he cut out the lights. When one henchman opened the breaker Batman shoved his head into it. Then he snuck under the wooden floor and broke through it to snatch a target and bring him below. The third guard ran to the spot but was too late. Batman was able to sneak behind the last guy and knock him out. He subdued Black Mask without too much trouble and was about to have his first face to face confrontation with him. Then Deathstroke entered the room firing his pistols giving Batman no choice but to evacuate. I arrived on the scene afterward and hit Batman on the radio.

"I spotted Deathstroke. I'll disarm him and then we can double team him."

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be home. Don't go near him."

"He doesn't know I'm here; I got the element of surprise on my side. Can you give him a clue of your position without giving him too much?"

"I know what you are thinking, but don't like it."

"C'mon, I'll be careful. Trust me. You know this is our best shot.

Batman sighed, "Fine. Wait for my signal."

Batman threw a batarang his way and Deathstroke immediately was on the move in that direction. He moved swiftly but quietly. He slowed down around the corner and I knew this was my opportunity. I had to disarm both pistols in one action so my options were limited but I made up my mind quick. Grappling or tripping one leg wouldn't be wise because he might retain enough balance to still shoot me. Aiming high may give him a chance to see me, and there were no good hiding spaces directly behind him that was near. I stayed low and moved quickly between hiding spots until I was able to approach him from an angle a little bit behind and to the side of him. I reared back and took a big baseball swing connecting with both of his ankles at the same time and causing him to land flat on his face. He dropped his pistols as his hands braced himself for landing. They were still in arms reach and I knocked the first pistol like a hockey puck down the floor. As he reached for the one near his left hand, I poked it away using the staff like a pool stick. Deathstroke popped back on his feet and said, "You'll regret that" in a condescending tone. He pulled out his sword and calmly approached me, measuring me up taking a circular path as he got closer. "Time to clip your wings," he said. Then he dashed toward me slashing his sword.

"Bring it!" I said.

I was fired up and felt much better defending myself with the staff instead of fighting him hand-to-hand. Sensing that I was fighting completely defensive, he got more and more aggressive. I had held off well but he finally disarmed me and I was running out of space in the building. All my determination didn't matter; I was outmatched in every way but still fighting back desperately. Right then Batman swooped in on the grapple and got between us. The real fight began and I wasn't going to settle for being a spectator.

An intense match between the two foes picked up right where they left it. Both used their gadgets at times as well leading to a chaotic fight. In the midst of it, Deathstroke wrapped a cord around Batman's legs and dragged him out the room. Deathstrokes gadget was as advanced as Batman's grapple gun and before he knew it, Batman was hanging upside down with Deathstroke fast approaching with his sword. With his arms still free Batman blocked the first few attacks, landed a punch.

Right then I attacked Deathstroke to allow Batman time to free himself from his position. My staff and his sword clashed for a while longer and then he caught my staff with his left hand. He pulled it in close while I was still hanging onto it. With the sword in his right he aimed to thrust it right through my chest. I knocked it to the side and contorted my body so it only scraped my side but still hurt like hell. I had let go of the staff and was more defenseless. He took another swing and I had to use my arm to block it. The cut was deep and I was in real agony. Finally Batman had freed himself and was able to knock Deathstroke's sword away.

Deathstroke was still a handful without the sword but Batman eventually gained the upper hand this time. Sensing his defeat was near; Deathstroke pulled the pin on his grenade and dropped it right where they were fighting. I escaped outside and Batman busted through a window to get away. When Batman went back in, Deathstroke was nowhere to be found. The police were on the trail and nearby. It seems they finally got some people to snitch on Black Mask and had decent idea what was going on this night. The explosion gave away our exact location causing our night to end.

We went into hiding after the police and fire department converged and saw them take away Black Mask. It was over. It didn't end the way we wanted it to, but the case was done. Batman didn't get an opportunity to interrogate Black Mask and Deathstroke escaped but we still felt the burden being lifted off our shoulders. As Batman expected, Deathstroke abandoned his goal to kill us once money was no longer involved, although our paths would cross again in the future. Gotham was never the same as Batman's popularity exploded after the case. Word had got out that the source of all the drama that night occurred from the bounty on Batman and it dominated the news for the next month. Unfortunately crime in Gotham remained prevalent. With Black Mask no longer holding a monopoly, many different gangs were sprouting up and moving in on Black Mask's territory. His criminal empire collapsed and disbanded ending an era..

We got back to Wayne manor at 4 AM on Christmas morning. Alfred was still up waiting for us. He patched us up and warmed up a meal he prepared earlier.

"Well Richard, you are too ambitious, but you are becoming one hell of a crime fighter, I'll give you that. You should see him in action Alfred. His athleticism and instincts is top notch. He is ideal for infiltration missions but has proven himself in other areas as well."

There was announcement later that Christmas Day that after the crazy recent events Gotham would create Arkham Asylum to house the most heinous and troubling villains the city had produced. The city feared Black Mask's assassins would inspire new rogues for the city to deal with which would prove to be true.

This was the first chapter in my long legacy with the Bat-Family. We all have our sidekick stories. I wasn't the fighter that Jason was or the detective and tactician that Tim was. I didn't understand technology, gadgets, and computer hacking as well as Barbara. No, I was the free-running acrobat that would improvise his way through a situation. I took my circus act to the streets of Gotham and never looked back.

The wind in my face, being suspended in the air, that moment when gravity kicks in, that's where I was the best.

THE END


End file.
